The Roland Imperial Prison, a cell.
A rather handsome young man sat on the edge of a stone bed with shackles on his hands and feet. There was a clanging sound every time he made the slightest movement.
He was wearing the initial costume of a novice player. The knitted hat on his head that was originally used to hide his ears had disappeared, and a pair of pointed ears were revealed in his short, blue-gray hair.
“F*k. I went offline and slept. Why am I still here?”
Lan Xiaoyin scratched his head, face full of distress.
In the void in front of him, the barrage was scrolling.
[Hahaha, I came to see if the streamer is still in prison. Now I’m relieved.]
[Just one night and you want to leave? You are looking down on Sister Mary in the cell opposite you!]
In the cell opposite Lan Xiaoyin, a girl was also sitting on a stone bed. Her hands and feet weren’t shackled but her eyes were blank. She was sitting there motionless.
This was the offline status.
Since they were in a cell, the character wouldn’t disappear if they went offline.
This girl was a player who had entered the palace to see Li Zhecheng before. She was caught and locked up. Her ID was Bloody Mary. Since her case was relatively minor, she only needed to stay in prison for a full month.
It was just a month but this was still too long for players. In particular, it was now the initial open beta. One month was equivalent to her account being useless.
There was still a chance to delete the account and start again, but Bloody Mary didn’t use it.
Since discovering that she could communicate with the criminal NPCs in the next cells, she took this as a new way to play. She harassed her ‘roommates’ every day to see if she could uncover hidden missions.
It was still morning and she wouldn’t go online until evening.
Lan Xiaoyin pouted. He originally thought his plan was foolproof. After all, he had the talent skill of the elf— Plant Transformation. This allowed him to disguise himself as a plant and it was difficult for him to be discovered.
He never thought that when he was close to the target of his mission, he would be spotted by a child in his early teens!
[Can I still see His Highness Joan today? The little prince is really cute. It is painless to be a mother!]
[Indeed, the little boy is so cute and sassy! He beat Xiao Lan to a pulp. Ahhh, I’m going to vote for him on the character rankings!]
[I have a screenshot. I can use His Highness Joan as a profile picture.]
[Am I the only one who likes the little princess?]
[No, I like her too!]
Lan Xiaoyin looked at the barrage and rolled his eyes.
He wasn’t a professional game streamer. He was lucky enough to draw this rare race account and opened the live broadcast room on a whim.
According to the statistics on the forum, among the 100,000 public beta players of Starry Sky Age, there were about a dozen rare race accounts. As of today, he was the only one with the account of a forest elf that had appeared on the forum. The others were all sea elves.
The probability was very small, but it could be regarded as a benefit for open beta players. The closed beta players didn’t have a chance to get one of the rare races.
Rare things were worth the price. His unique race quickly attracted the attention of many fans of the game and brought a certain amount of popularity to his live broadcast room.
Everyone worked together to explore the gameplay of the forest elf, which was actually quite interesting. Lan Xiaoyin got a lot of inspiration from the live broadcast room, but some of them particularly caused harm to him.
[Wasn’t Xiao Lan looking for the royal family of the elves? How did he find Roland’s princess?]
[She doesn’t have to be a princess, right?]
[If she isn’t a princess, how could she live in the palace?]
[I asked a few NPCs I know. They really didn’t know that there is a little princess in the imperial family of Roland.]
[Maybe it is Joan’s child bride 2333.]
[I can ship childhood sweethearts!]
“Is that the point?”
Lan Xiaoyin huffed as he fiddled with his shackles. “I’m still locked up. How can I escape?”
[Why escape? Didn’t the beauty yesterday say he would interrogate you later?]
[Ah yes, yes! The big beauty with brown eyes! What immortals live in the Roland Palace? I hate that the official website doesn’t have a setting introduction!]
[For the sake of the big beauty, you can only be wronged again, Xiao Lan. Charge!]
Since he was attacked by the little prince, Lan Xiaoyin could see Joan’s name. For other NPCs, he couldn’t see it due to the level limit.
The beauty with brown eyes mentioned in the barrage was actually a man. He had silver-gray, ear-length hair and coral red earrings. He was indeed beautiful but the pressure he gave off was very scary.
Lan Xiaoyin still remembered that he had almost slipped away in the chaos. Then as soon as this man came, he couldn’t move. The system informed him that the space around him was imprisoning him.
He was really caught off guard and had no idea how it happened.
At this moment, Lan Xiaoyin looked at the barrage and felt very speechless. They were a bunch of people who stood and talked without hurting their backs. They should try to be in prison themselves!
He finally chose to ignore the barrage and dragged his heavy body toward the iron bars.
He might’ve turned down the realism but the shackles reduced his agility. He now moved as slowly as a turtle!
The key was that there were still restrictions in this prison!
There was no way for him to use his talent skill here, or he would’ve turned into a dandelion and flown out.
At this moment, the space outside the cell twisted, producing dark lines visible to the naked eye.
Lan Xiaoyin paused. The man with silver-gray hair and a pair of brown eyes appeared outside the cell. Then his vision in front of him was almost drowned out by the barrage.
It also wasn’t over yet. He saw another young man emerging from the space crack behind the man.
The young man had black hair, green eyes and a cold face. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Lan Xiaoyin. “He is that elf?”
Chamo smiled slightly. He nodded and said, “Yes, he seems to be called Blue Mark.”
His voice was gentle and polite, like clear spring water flowing by. It was a pleasure just to listen to him. Then it was soon interrupted by the laughter of the black-haired youth.
“Blue Mark? What type of weird name is this?”
Lan Xiaoyin: “……”
D*mn, if he had known in advance that this account was a rare race account, he would’ve definitely given it a cool name!
The problem was…
He didn’t know it! In addition, there were no rename cards for sale in the game!
[Hahahaha, what honest words. I like watching the instant reactions of NPCs! So vivid!]
[This handsome guy is so cool! A new character again?]
[I don’t know why this always feels a bit familiar.]
[This color scheme is quite similar to the panther pet in Game of the Gods.]
[Ahh, this big beauty and cool brother go well together!]
Lan Xiaoyin closed the barrage and looked at the two NPCs outside the cell.
“Little demon, how old are you?”
September looked at the elf in the cell. His appearance looked like an adult but elves had long growth cycles. It took almost 200 years to reach adulthood.
The elf in front of him felt too weak, similar to a child who had just been born.
Lan Xiaoyin pursed his lips. He glanced at the main mission he had received after entering the game.
Find the elven royalty.
His level was stuck at Lv 5. He had to find the elven royal family and return to the elf clan together to stimulate the bloodline power before he could continue leveling up. The Roland Palace was the only clue he got.
After close contact, he didn’t find a little girl with an elven bloodline in the palace. She should be the elven royal family member mentioned in the mission, or she had a relationship with the royal family.
“I’m… more than 20 years…”
Lan Xiaoyin spoke hesitantly.
His birthplace was in Seizing Star City. According to the setting, he was an elf born in the human world. Recently, the seal that concealed the characteristics of his body had been loosened. He realized that he was actually a legendary elf.
As for age…
How could he know? This setting wasn’t talked about!
The black-haired young man glanced at him and said, “You look quite anxious.”
Lan Xiaoyin: “……”
At this time, Chamo smiled. “If you have anything to say, wait until His Majesty is here. Trespassing into the palace is a mortal sin. Whether you can be pardoned or not depends on His Majesty’s meaning.”
Strictly speaking, elves weren’t ancient beasts, especially forest elves.
Chamo wasn’t very familiar with the forest elves. He was cautious when facing an elf of unknown origin who was obviously coming for his Asheng.
In his time, the elves who pursued pure blood weren’t friendly to half-elves.
Chamo and September came to the hall with Lan Xiaoyin.
There, Lan Xiaoyin saw the silver-haired emperor sitting on the throne. He was as handsome as the video Lan Xiaoyin had seen on the Starry Sky Forum. He was like a real elf king.
Ah, no, he was the elf now.
Lan Xiaoyin straightened his waist. Then his eyes came into contact with several bigshots in the hall and he inevitably felt a bit weak.
How did Starry Sky Age make the NPCs so alive and full of aura?
Xu Sili looked at the elf. With just one glance, he could see that this elf was a player. The information displayed by the Insight technique was indeed the same.
[Blue Mark]
[Identity: Player.
Faction: Roland Empire.
Bloodline: Forest Elf
Level: Lv 5
Health: 9,000/9,000
Magic: 300/300
Elemental Affinity: Wood
Racial talent: Plant Transformation.]
It could be seen that the basic attributes of rare races are very good. At Lv 5, he could have 90 physical strength and 60 intelligence. If this number could be raised, he would definitely be the top combat power among players.
However, it was clear that rare races were good but the preliminary missions were estimated to be much more difficult than that of ordinary players.
Xu Sili looked at Si Sheng. Without him saying more, Si Sheng understood what he meant.
He nodded and took a step forward.
Lan Xiaoyin reopened the barrage because of the tense atmosphere. As a result…
[Ahhhh, His Majesty Snow sitting on the throne is too handsome!]
[This eye contact! Kswlkswl!]
[Si x Snow is real.]
[The feeling of a three-layered joint review. Xiao Lan, I pray for your blessings!]
Lan Xiaoyin was speechless again, but at least the pressure wasn’t so great.
They were NPCs anyway. What could they do to him?
He wasn’t even afraid of death. Why should he be afraid of being interrogated?
At this moment, he met Si Sheng’s eyes. The man’s originally gray-blue pupils had turned dark gold.
“You are a forest elf?” He asked.
[Ding~ Si Sheng has used the secret skill ‘Question and Answer’ on you.]
[Question and Answer: A secret technique. You must answer the caster’s questions and you can’t lie. Only death will allow you to escape the control of this technique.]
Lan Xiaoyin: “???”
Wasn’t this NPC’s skill against the sky?!
Xu Sili watched with a bit of curiosity. Would Si Sheng’s Question and Answer skill be effective against players?
Lan Xiaoyin hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Yes, I am a forest elf.”
This had been exposed and there was no point in denying it.
“What is the purpose behind breaking into the palace?” Si Sheng continued.
Lan Xiaoyin rolled his eyes and instinctively said, “There is no purpose… I just wanted to look at you and Your Majesty…”
[Ding~ The player’s game cabin data monitoring has shown that you lied to Si Sheng.]
[So, you are dead.]
Lan Xiaoyin: “???”
The next second, his health bar was emptied. His body fell limp and his soul floated in the air.
There was a brief pause before the barrage suddenly showed explosive growth.
[What just happened?]
[6666]
[Question and Answer! F*k, isn’t this a unique skill of Game of the Gods?]
[F*k! If I remember correctly, this divine skill seemed to belong to Xu Sili, who was the prototype of His Majesty Snow. He got it and there was a full-server announcement at the time.]
[Ahhh, mentioning this… Seeing the picture of His Majesty Snow and Si Sheng standing together, what should I do if I suddenly feel a bit tearful?]
[I remember that Brother Xu liked Si Sheng very much and posted pictures of him several times. I can still see it now on his Weibo.]
[So Brother Xu is considered complete. He is with his virtual character forever in the game… I suddenly feel so moved!]
Lan Xiaoyin, who was in the soul state, had a very distorted expression when he looked at the discussion on the barrage.
Hey hey, he just died inexplicably. Did anyone care about him?
In addition, this game even had a lie detector function? It detected that he lied and killed him? This subverted his cognition from playing games for the past ten years.
In fact, Lan Xiaoyin wasn’t sincerely lying. It was mainly that he didn’t know how to proceed with this mission.
It was due to the background information he obtained. Elves were once sold as commodities among human nobles. The parents of this identity were also exiled in the human world in this way.
As for the little girl he saw yesterday, she didn’t have the elf’s signature pointed ears.
In other words, her elf identity hadn’t been revealed yet.
If he spoke rashly, would it bring danger to her and cause his subsequent mission to fail?
In Starry Sky Age where the degree of freedom went against the sky and missions couldn’t be repeated, he really didn’t dare to take risks.
In the main hall, Si Sheng’s eyes changed back to their original color as he looked at the fallen elf. Even without stepping forward, he could be certain that this elf had lost any breath of life.
He frowned slightly and looked back at Xu Sili.
Xu Sili was a bit surprised by the sudden death of the player. Then after thinking about it, he probably understood. This should be a protection provided by the game for the player.
After all, this was a game. if NPCs could control a player then it would be terrible. Once exposed, it would definitely be resisted.
Therefore, when attacked by this skill, the player should be able to escape through death.
Chamo and September were also stunned. Why did this elf suddenly die?
September went forward to investigate and found that he was indeed dead.
Was it killed by his master? But that scene just now didn’t look like it!
At this time, seeing Si Sheng looking at Xu Sili, he and Chamo also looked at the emperor and waited for his next instructions.
Xu Sili tapped his fingers on the armrest. Everyone was waiting for his decision, including Lan Xiaoyin.
He looked at the emperor almost pleadingly, hoping this person would show mercy and quickly find a place to bury his body so that he could escape in 30 minutes!
However, he heard the young man say, “Put him back in prison.”
Lan Xiaoyin: “……?”
No, he was dead! He had the identity of an elf and not a brave! Did these NPCs know that he would be resurrected?
Chamo nodded. The surprised expression on his face subsided. This elf died so strangely. Perhaps… was there a special method of feigning death?
It was a pity that he met the emperor and marshal of Roland.
Xu Sili watched Chamo take this person away before getting up and off the throne. His time was so precious. There was no need to waste half an hour waiting for this player to resurrect.
What’s more, the player might go offline in half an hour. Then wouldn’t it be a waste of time?
Xu Sili and Si Sheng went to Roland’s former border again. After nearly a week of killing monsters, the players’ levels had already risen.
Once the last batch of players reached level 20 today, Xu Sili was no longer prepared to continue participating in the battle.
The construction of the City of the Braves still depended on how well the players performed. Next, he would continue to focus on Roland’s five main cities.
In any case, after nearly a week of venting and getting revenge, Silin looked much better. The original purpose of launching this campaign had finally been achieved.
It was the last day of the battle so he had to fight well!
Xu Sili looked in the direction of Imperial City and led the players to continue cleaning up the interstellar beasts.
Behind them, thousands of meters away, there was a tree hole somewhere.
Xu Fengqing entered the game again.
He was slightly relieved when he saw that the silver-haired man was safe and sound while the shadow tent was just close to disappearing.
After experiencing it a few times, he had figured out the safe time.
The shadow tent was controlled by him and would start to dissipate when he went offline. It would completely disappear after 20 minutes, so he had 20 minutes to go offline every time.
Xenos’ state had improved significantly. His pale and thin face finally looked a bit more healthy. The repeated high fever had finally improved.
It was just that his body was too weak. After all this struggle, it was estimated that he would need to be raised for a while to fully restore his health.
However, they didn’t have the conditions to do that.
“Let’s go, I’ll take you to find your companions.” Xu Fengqing put away the blanket covering him. He took out a thick coat from his backpack and skillfully put it on the other person.
“Okay.”
Xenos nodded. He put his left arm into the sleeve of the coat. Then his gaze fell to his long silver hair that was falling to the ground.
He paused slightly before suddenly saying, “Fengqing, can you give me a dagger?”
“What are you going to do?” Xu Fengqing asked.
Xenos looked at his long hair. “I want to cut my hair off. It is too cumbersome.”
In the underground cave, he didn’t need to go out, so he kept growing his hair. Now it was different.
Xu Fengqing looked at the other person’s long, smooth and shiny hair. Previously, he hadn’t appreciated men with long hair but now he felt it was a pity.
He thought for a moment before asking, “How long has this hair been left to grow?”
The silver-haired man lowered his eyes. A sad and melancholy mood enveloped him. He whispered, “Probably… it has been four or five years.”
At that time…
His father was still there, not the ghost he is now…
Xenos held the end of his hair and watched the silver strands slip away from his hands, as if he was seeing the past dissipate into smoke before him.
Xu Fengqing pursed his lips before saying, “I’ll do it. It isn’t convenient for you.”
Xenos didn’t insist.
He only had one hand and it was really inconvenient.
Therefore, Xu Fengqing bought a hair tie from the system mall. He helped tie up Xenos’ hair and looked at him.
The corners of Xenos’ mouth twitched but he found he couldn’t laugh.
He retracted his smile and said, “Let’s do it.”
Then he kept watching.
Xu Fengqing could feel the man’s reluctance and pain, as well as a bit of determination.
He was silent and cut off all the long hair with the knife in his hand. The hair tie slipped off. Xenos’ long hair, which had been falling toward the ground, was cut to a length just above his shoulders.
Xenos looked at the cut hair and wanted to throw it into the fire to dispose of it. Then he heard the man say, “I will keep it for you and return it to you when I find your companions.”
Then he watched the man carefully curl up the silver hair in his hand and put it into his carry-on space.
Xu Fengqing stood up and prepared to take him away to the place where changes often happened in the past few days.
At this time, he heard Xenos say softly, “It is better to throw it away. Keeping it is a burden.”
Xu Fengqing frowned deeply.
He glanced at the silver-haired man, opened his mouth and finally whispered, “Any memories… are worth cherishing.”
Then he carried Xenos on his back and finally left the tree hole where they had been staying for many days.
Proofreader: Purichan
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